Advent December 5

Advent December 5

Read John 3:16,17   "For God so loved the world that He have is only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him has eternal life.  For God did not sent His Son into the world to condemn the world but that the world should be saved through Him."

How can this be?

A man deemed to be insane penned these words on the wall of his prison cell:  "Could we with ink the ocean fill;  were the whole sky of parchment made. Were every stalk on earth a quill and every man a scribe by trade. To write love of God above would drain the ocean dry.; Nor could the scroll contain the whole, though stretched from sky to sky."

Wonderful words!  But the best description of God's love is found in  the message of Christmas and Easter.  God sent His Son.  The Son, Jesus, died for us and rose again.  All who trust in Him have eternal and abundant life now.  That message of love will see us through many things.

Oh that we would be demented enough to grasp the greatness of such love.  Such faith would see us through many a prison of doubt, worry, fear, discouragement, and resentment.  How can God come into our lives and make His home with us?  Because of His love.

Advent Dec. 4

Advent Dec. 4

Exodus 3:1-14, 33:18-23, 34:4-7     Key Verse: Ex. 34:6  "The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and abounding in love and faithfulness."

"How can this be?"

Christmas can best be explained by the love of God.  When Moses wanted to see the glory of God, the LORD passed by and showed Moses as much as he could stand.  The words mercy, compassion, love and faithfulness jump out at me as I look at this encounter in Ex. 33 and 34.  God is describing His basic essence to Moses as that of a loving and faithful God who is willing to come to earth and reveal Himself to the human race.

I am sure that Moses' mind went back to his first wilderness encounter with God which we read about in Exodus 3.  There, God revealed Himself to Moses for the first time in the form of a burning bush.   God told Moses that He had heard the cries of His people and He had come down to rescue them.(vss. 7 & 8).  Later in the conversation, Moses asked God to give him His name.  God said " I AM WHO I AM".  It is a name that means He is the self existent One.  We pronounce it as YaHWeH and it usually appears in English Bibles as LORD(upper case letters).   To tell someone your name is to get personal with him or her.  God wants to have a personal relationship with us.  When Jesus came He said, "before Abraham was, I AM"(John 8:58), using the same wording that God had used with Moses.  Christ's meaning is obvious.  He is the same God who always is, who came down to earth and entered time to rescue His people through Moses.

Advent is a time of hope--of expectation.  Whatever you are going through, the LORD hears your cries and comes to help.    He is the One who has always been, and is able to deliver you.  He has shown that His nature is that of love, mercy, compassion, and faithfulness, so He is also able to deliver you.  Just as the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, so He will incarnate Himself into our lives if we allow Him.  You may be very low, but not too low for the LORD to come down and rescue you.  You may feel that you are on top of the world right now, but the LORD still loves you and wants to be with you to express His love to you and then on to others.  He wants to get personal with us.  He wants to show us as much about Himself as we can stand.  Let us be overwhelmed by the love of God as Moses surely was.

As Moses came down from the mountain, he had a glow that reflected the glory of the LORD.   As we learn more about God and experience Him, we are changed.  Even if we are on the mountain top and must come back down to the real world we can bring His presence with us.  In every situation the LORD loves us and will be with us.  This is the message of Christma

Advent Dec. 3

Advent Dec. 3

Read Genesis 12:1-3, 15:1-7      Key verse Gen. 1:3b   "All the families of the earth will be blessed through you."

"How can this be?"

The question of Christmas is answered first of all by the fact that God cares about us.  In the first pages of the Bible we see how the human race messed up, big time.  The first humans disobeyed the only rule God gave them.  Their first child killed his younger brother.   Violence filled the earth.  God saved the only people worth salvaging from a great flood.  Their descendents tried to be their own gods(Gen. 11).  The world was in a mess.  But God started a long process to bring the human race back to Himself.

This reclamation project started with a man named Abram who would become Abraham.  In spite of the human condition the Lord was going to use a man.  It would be God who saved us, but He would use humans in a long process that would lead to the Lord Himself becoming a man.   Why God chose Abram and ultimately  his descendents to be line for the Christmas event is a question which only  the Lord Himself knows the answer.  But we can certainly surmise that it was out of His own goodness and greatness that the Lord chose Abram and chooses us.

There is a Dennis the Menace cartoon in which Dennis and a friend are eating cookies baked by Mrs. Wilson.   The friend comments to Dennis that he must be awfully good for Mrs. Wilson to bake him such good goodies.  Dennis astutely remarks that Mrs. Wilson made him the cookies, not because he is so good, but because Mrs. Wilson is so good.  God loves us and saves us, not based on our goodness but His. 

Your world may be a mess.  But Christ came into our world to fix it and to fix us.  He will come to everyone who will receive Him and be a blessing.  Dennis had to eat the cookies to enjoy them and we must have faith in Christ to enjoy His salvation.   You may be a saved person in a terrible mess.  You can never be so far away from God that He can't help you.  No problem is too big for Him.  He said to Mary, "Nothing is impossible with God"  This Advent season gives us hope because we know that God cares.  He proved it beginning with Adam, Eve, Abraham and many others, completing it in Christ.  He will come into every heart that opens up to Him and lets Him in (Rev. 3:20).   A good Christmas prayer is, "O holy child of Bethlehem!  Descend to us, we pray;  Cast out our sin and enter in, be born in us today.

Advent Devotional Dec. 2

ADVENT Dec. 2

Read Genesis 3:1-9   Key verse:  "where are you?"  vs. 9

"How can this be?"

Mary's question has many implications for us. When pondering Christmas we might ask, "How can God even care about us?"
The first man and woman had it great in the garden of Eden. They were in charge of looking after the creation. They lived in a beautiful place and they only had one rule. They were told that if they ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil they would die.

Can you imagine only one rule? When you were a teenager, how would you have loved it if your parents had said the only rule is do not stay out at night past 3am? Don't you think you could have lived with that and been able to obey? Adam and Eve had it made! One rule--and a very easy one to obey. And not only that--they had a perfect relationship with God. They were His very image. And they gave it all up by listening to the serpent's lie.

The devil convinced them that God did not have their best interests at heart, that He was holding out on them. So they ate the fruit and immediately were ashamed, hiding from God. But God came looking for them, calling out, "Where are you?" God then took the life of an innocent animal and covered their nakedness and shame.

Our sins have caused us great harm and shame. But God is a god of love. He has come looking for us even as we have tried to hide from Him. He calls out to us, "Where are you?", not because He doesn't know where we are, but because He wants us to know that He cares. How could God care for us? Because He is God and He is love. He even became the innocent Lamb of God, shedding His blood to cover our shame.

The first prophecy of the advent of Christ is given by God as He prepares to redeem a now-fallen world, saying that the seed of the woman would one day crush the head of the serpent(Gen. 3:15). Prepare for Christ by understanding that God is a great and loving God who cared enough to send His very best.

ADVENT DAILY DEVOTIONALS: Dec, 1

ADVENT DAILY DEVOTIONALS: Dec, 1

December 1

Read Luke 1:26-38

Luke 1:34    "How can this be?"

Maybe like me you are in awe over the whole concept of God becoming a man.  The angel Gabriel paid a visit to a virgin teenage woman named Mary to tell her, "You will conceive and give birth to a son...The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David and He will reign over  Israel forever; his kingdom will have no end."(Luke 1:31-33)  Mary was naturally confused so she asked, "How can this be?"

This question is likely the one we all ask at one time or another.  There are times in our lives when we are unproductive, discouraged, alone, afraid, guilty, unloved, confused,  helpless or resentful.  We wonder if God cares, if He wants to do something about it, if He can do something, how He might do it,  what role we are expected to play, why we might deserve it, and/or what will others think.

Christmas is a great mystery.  The incarnation is a supernatural act of God that boggles the mind.  Advent is a good time to ponder the coming of Christ and to plan how we should receive Him.  Let's just remember that God is God.  He can do anything He wants to do and He loves us.  You may be in a tight situation and see no way out.  Just remember that just as the Son of God became a man to save a lost world, He can come into your world to deliver you from your affliction.  How He will do so is His decision and is done in His way.  All he asks is that we ask and that we invite Him into our lives.  "I am the Lord's servant" was Mary's response and it is a good one for us as well.  Total surrender to Him opens the door for God's activity in our lives.   

The devotional thoughts of this Advent season will follow this theme over the next 24 days.  "How can this be?"  A good question which I will attempt to answer through the Word of Go

God'a Abundance

You already know that I am no great master of the Queen’s English, but I do know what sounds right even if I do not always say it correctly myself. I like speech to be clear, non-redundant, and spoken with as few words and syllables as possible. Here are some of my pet peeves of the spoken word: “Where’s it at? (What’s wrong with “Where is it”?) “That is a goal for Joy and I” (should be “Me”). “At the end of the day…” (Can’t they just say, “Finally”, or “ultimately”? “I’m telling you about me loving God.” (No, it’s “my”) And my all-time anti-favorite: “Am I happy? Yes” “Am I sad? No.” (Please don’t make a statement in the form of a question! “I am happy” will do just fine).
There are theological statements that get to me also. There is a definition of evangelism I actually heard while in seminary: “Evangelism is one beggar telling another beggar where to get a crumb of bread.” Folks, when I
initially come to Christ, I certainly do come as a beggar and a sinner. But once I have received his free gift of salvation I am a child of God! His work on the cross (death, burial, and resurrection) has made me a saint. I am told in the word of God, time and time again, that all I have to do is ask according to his will and I have it. I sometimes act like a beggar and maybe that’s why I only get a piece of bread when I could have the whole loaf. Why do we settle for a crumb when we can have a kingdom? God is saying to us, “everything I have is yours” (Luke 15:31) and “ask and you shall receive.”(Matthew 7:7).
I am suggesting that we start taking the Lord at his word. The New Testament is covenant, contract, promise, and a will. Grace is free. When by faith we give Christ all we have, he gives us all he has. One of the reasons we give him what we have is so we can have empty hands
to receive all of our inheritance. The good news is, I can repent. Change is possible even for this old coot. I am praying that the Lord will teach me many things, including how to receive his abundance.

Amen and Hallelujah

I have had the blessing of traveling around the world and have met many Christians.  When meeting with a person who speaks another language there can be barriers.   I have learned, however, that there are two words that are the same in all languages:  Amen and Hallelujah.  Both of these words are transliterated from the ancient Hebrew into NT Greek and, as far as I know, every other language.  We can draw a comfort from hearing these commonly used God-words.  Just as in the natural, I feel a warmth when I see a McDonald's in a foreign land, I am encouraged when I hear Amen or Hallelujah.  At a McDonald's I know that I can order the same sandwich or coffee that I can have anywhere else in the world.  those golden arches offer me a sense of stability and continuity.  Hearing Amen or Hallelujah tells me that I am among friends who share the same faith and values of all believers around the world.

Amen means truth.  Often it is translated as "truly", "verily", or "so be it."  II Corinthians 1:20 and Revelation 3:4 say that Jesus is the Amen.  He said Himself that he is the truth.  Even McDonald's changes its menus Jesus is the same, yesterday, today and forever(Heb. 13:8).  Jesus said, "You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free".  To know Christ is to know the truth incarnate.  "In the beginning was the word(logos: meaning logic, reason, or truth) and the word was with God and the word was God.  All things were made by Him and nothing was made that was not made by Him...and the word became flesh and dwelt among us"(John ch. 1).  We are set free from sin to become what we are meant to be when we embrace the one who is the Amen.

Knowing the Amen leads us to shout "Hallelujah!", which means "praise the Lord"  The word is found almost exclusively in the Psalms and Revelation, associated with singing.  Christians all over the world sing because they are free.  We are created with a need to worship something and the only one really worthy of worship is the living God.  One day(and even now) there will be a great multitude in heaven singing, "Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God; because His judgements are true and righteous; for He has judged the great harlot who was corrupting the earth with her immorality, and He has avenged the blood of His bondservants on her." ' And they said a second time, "Hallelujah!  Her smoke rises up forever and ever." 'And the twenty-four elders and the living creatures fell down and worshiped God who on the throne saying, "Amen. Hallelujah!"..."Hallelujah for the Lord Almighty reigns"(Rev. 19:1-6)

When my team wins a game all the fans sing of the victory with great enthusiasm: "Hail to the Redskins, Hail victory! Braves on the warpath, fight for old DC!"  When I join with true believers around the world we sing of the victory won for us by the Savior.  We sing with enthusiasm, maybe in different languages:  "Hallelujah, thine the glory, Hallelujah, Amen.!"  And our victory is not a game.  Our victory is a win over death. It is the victory of Truth and Life.

Amen!  Hallelujah!